That Summer
by suena
Summary: Kagome was the quiet one, the one who stood in Kikyo's shadow, but when Kikyo leaves that summer Inuyasha, Kikyo's boyfriend find a friend in Kagome and more, but all summers have to end and their was no exception.


**That Summer**

Her fingers gripped the wheel as she careened away from the large house, her breath was coming out in gasps as her mind raced over the events of the last few moments. She rolled down the window of her black 2003 Neon. The wind quickly penetrated the small car whipping her hair around her face.

Heart hammering against her chest she pressed down on the gas pedal and sped through her small town, away from the lights until she was on the outskirts. She watched defly as the speedometer slowly inched up, 50mph...60mph...70mph...it wasn't enough. She wanted to be flying as fast as she could, she wanted to fly away. Away from the town, away from her life, away from herself.

But no matter what she did, she couldn't get away...80mph. She could still see their faces as they watched her leave, anger etched on Kikyo's and solemn determination plastered on Inuyasha's...90mph.

Her stomach felt like a hundred birds were flapping about, something deep within her was desperatly clawing at her skin, looking for a way out. She always got this feeling but it had never been this bad. Like demons were constantly chasing her, looking over her shoulder at every turn she had managed to subdue it.

All the notes she had taken in Drivers Ed. last summer meant nothing now as they flew out the back window and into the black night. Every note she had taken in her life seemed to fly out those two back windows as she drove on out of control.

"_Do you know how dangerous this is!" She screamed laughter bubbling up. Inuyasha chuckled beside her and threw an arm over her shoulder, the other steering the car while he pushed the pedal to the car down harder._

"_You have to live like there's no tomorrow, Kagome! Don't let others tell you what's right and wrong." He yelled over the roar of the wind and engine. _

_It was a summer night, the sky was clear, the moon was bright and they thought they were in love. Driving around in his corvet, she felt as though she could die the next day and be at peace._

Ignoring the speed limit signs she kept on her way, the needle on the speedometer pushed against the edge of the graph, she was going far beyond the 90mph limit her car could handle and still she kept on.

Closing her eyes she tried to shut out the pain she felt for her loss. They both wanted nothing to do with her now... Kikyo...Inuyasha...

She opened her eyes a split second before she hit it, her face froze with terror before everything spiraled out of control. Her chest took in the full impact of the air bag while glass shattered all around her, the shards piercing her skin all over. The car skid down the road until it hit the safety rail at the bridge she was just coming to and flipped over it. Her body was ejected from the safety of the car and for a minute she was suspended in mid-air.

Her mothers face came to her in that instant just before she hit the shallow waters below, her car landing meer feet away from her broken body.

The head lights flickered once before darkness settled back over the land. The deer Kagome had struck lay dead on the road above.

Her mind tossed about in her head, a deep sleep threatened to take hold of her, but with every fiber in her being she fought it off. A shrill scream erupted from within her broken body as the pain exploded from her very core. Squeazing her eyes shut she growled out but only managed to choke on the blood that sprang forth.

As she lay there she could only feel the cold grip of death clench her spirit and all the pain disapeared, she was too far gone to feel it anymore.

"_Do you ever wonder what it's going to be like when you die?" Kagome asked Inuyasha as she ran her hands through his silken hair. _

_He grunted as he lay back in her lap, "Nah, I got plenty of time before I hafta go on worrying about that shit."_

_Kagome stopped for a beat and looked down into his eyes, "Yeah but sometimes I just wonder." _

Kagome smiled, the muscle barely bending to her will as she thought fondly of the young man.

She and Kikyo had been as close as ever. Their mothers were friends when they were pregnant with the two of them, they had shared birth dates, parties, toys when they were toddlers and as they grew older still they remained close, in middle school grew up in their own way, Kikyo became outgoing, while Kagome chose to hang back as her sidekick and when they reached high school she joined the dance team and Kagome joined the writing guild. They were like light and day, each nonexistant without the other and at seventeen their friendship was still going on strong when Kikyo met Inuyasha.

He was the epiphany of what a high school boy should be, athletic, energetic, outgoing, unpredictable and completely selfish. He'd caught Kikyo's eye in an instant and she, his. They were the couple of the year, but Kagome had disliked him in the beginning until the summer began.

Kikyo had won a scholarship to a dance school in another town, she hadn't passed it up.

Kagome felt her eyes drift shut and try as she might she could not get them to open up again. Although she couldn't feel the extent of her injuries, she knew this would be the last time she would see anything again. She knew without a doubt that this was the end of her road.

Tears formed and slid down her cheeks, the salt water mixing with the blood leaking from the wounds on her cheeks where the glass from the windshield had penetrated.

The road she'd been on was a quiet one, nobody ever came through it anymore and she knew it would probably be at least a few hours before help came, and by then...

"_You two need to take care of each other, for me. I love you both." Kikyo said smiling as she hugged Kagome and kissed Inuyasha. "I'll be back on August 19th!" She said before getting into her car and driving off, with a last wave goodby she was gone._

_Kagome stared after her friend and with a sense of insecurity. It was after all the first summer she'd spend without her._

"_Hey, I'm leaving. I guess I'll uh...see you around." Inuyasha said, slicing through her thoughts._

"_Oh! Um...yeah." She answered waving as he walked away. With a sigh of resignation Kagome begun to walk back home, she had spent the previous night with Kikyo and Kikyo had driven her here. She had left her car at home._

_Inuyasha pulled up beside her a few blocks down and offered to take her home, "I don't why you didn't tell me you were going to walk! Geeze I would've given you a friggin ride!" He grouched._

It was the first time of many to come that she would be in his car.

_Within the weeks, Inuyasha would often see Kagome driving around town until one day they ran into each other. _

_She was working in the book-store part time when he came in, she smiled and nodded to him before getting back to shelving books._

"_I didn't know you worked here." _

_Startled, Kagome jumped a bit and dropped the book she had in her hands. "Uh!" Kagome exclaimed as the book fell._

_In the blink of an eye it went from falling to being in Inuyasha's safe grasp, "Butter-fingers." _

_Laughing Kagome shook her head and they talked the rest of her shift. As she left she could remember a feeling of dread, like a premonition before she brushed it off and went along home._

She could feel the last shred of her enrgy slip away, she felt as though she were floating. For the first time in months she felt as though she were at ease, as if everything in her world was alright.

_They'd spent weeks together, talking, testing and befriending one another. _

_Kagome knew that what they were doing was going to end up hurting Kikyo, but she couldn't stop herself and when the day finaly came, the day she knew would destroy Kikyo's friendship, she gave in as easily as possible._

_Inuyasha had cheated on Kikyo, with Kagome._

_By mid June they were inseperatable, but in all their conversations the only subject they stayed away from was Kikyo, and the day she would return. It was like a game, they would slip up from time to time and the ugly truth would shake their world before they would part for a few moments. _

_Neither one of them would confess what it was that they had between them, neither wanted to know._

_For the first time in her life, Kagome was being selfish, she was being crazy, she felt free, wild and uncaring. She was no longer in Kikyo's shadow, and she loved it._

In her heart Kagome felt the deepest of remorse but she knew that she could never regret her acts.

Her throat was full of blood, she couldn't breathe and so her body reacted on instict as it faught for one last breath. Her heart was slowing down until it hit it's last beat and finaly stopped. The convusions lasted all of five seconds before finaly she stilled. Her body was done in, it had taken too much damage.

_The air was thick with moisture, the rain was beating on the top of the car but the two teens ignored it and simply held on to each other. Their summer was at an end, their tryst was at its climax, it was August 18th._

_Kagome lay wrapped in Inuyasha's arms simply holding on as tears dripped from her eyes. She and her mother had gotten into another fight, she felt a tight ball of anxiety form in the pit of her stomach and the familiar ache to leave filled her. "I hate my life." She whispered._

_Inuyasha didn't respond, his heart pounded against Kagome's. His hands were entertwined with hers, in every way they seemed to be connected. _

"_I think I love you." Inuyasha murmured against her neck._

_Kagome closed her eyes and sighed, 'Me too.' She thought._

_The next evening Kikyo returned._

"_Kagome!" She yelled jumping out of her car and throwing her arms around her. "I missed you, you won't believe how lonely this summer has been without you!"_

"_You too..." Kagome answered her gut twisting with guilt._

_Their senior year started the following day as well as the rumors._

"_Inuyasha!" _

"_Huh?" He turned in time to receive the slap clean across his face. "K-Kikyo...you know don't you?" Inuyasha asked his golden gaze fixed on the woman in front of him._

"_Yes." She bit out turning her focus to Kagome who stood erect next to him. "You bastard!" She ragged as the back of her hand made contact with Kagome's cheek._

"_I'm so sorry, Kikyo." Kagome called as she watched her exit the school. "W-Wait! Let me explain! Kikyo!" But her words fell on deaf ears. The end was nearing and she knew it. Fear once again ran through her veigns, she knew she was going to lose her closest friend._

"_We, we should go." Inuyasha said leading Kagome through the doors which Kikyo had just taken. _

_In the end Kikyo had taken Inuyasha back, but not Kagome. No she chose to turn her back on a 17 year old friendship. The three of them had decided to meet up at Kikyo's house and finaly discuss things out._

"_Kikyo, you know I love you!" Inuyasha begged his grip tight on Kikyo's shoulders just before he pulled her into an intimate embrace. "It's always been you." He whispered._

"_Kikyo, please listen to me, I never meant to hurt you it's just...I'm so sorry! I promise I'll never do anything like this again!" Kagome pleaded. Her heart pounded against her chest as she watched her love slip away into the arms of her best friend._

"_How could I? How could you even begin to think that I could forgive you for doing this, Kagome? I trusted you for seventeen years! My whole life you were my dearest friend and this is how you repay me!" Kikyo stood, her voice calm and cold. "Get out," She crossed the room and opened the front door, "Now."_

"_Please, Kikyo." Kagome whispered, tears falling from her eyes, "Inuyasha?" She begged looking for a back up only to find him wraping his arm across Kikyo's shoulders, the same way he had her own just months earlier._

_Condemed, she felt her legs begin to quake as she turned and nodded, "Okay..." Holding her head high she turned back to them one last time, anger etched on Kikyo's and solemn determination plastered on Inuyasha's, "I love you, both of you." She said and shut the door behind her._

_Pulling her keys out of her pocket she opened up her car door and got in..._

The emergency technicians looked down at the young woman, her body was shredded, her legs broken in more than one place, her left arm dislocated. She looked like a rag doll that a child had thrown around.

"She has no pulse." The EMT concluded, taking a step back the paramedic sighed, "She was just a kid." He murmured as he wraped her body in a black bag.

The ride to the hospital was a quiet one, the doctors simply stared at the walls of the ambulance, each feeling the sting of the lost life.

.*.

The phone rang in the sleeping household.

"Hello?" The woman answered, her voice thick with sleep. She held the phone to her ear and stood there a moment, "Y-Yes this is Mrs. Higurashi...I see...Where is she?" Her hand begun to shake as tears slipped down her cheeks, "Is she okay?" After a moment the woman nodded and cleared her throat, "I'll b-be there as soon as possible, t-thank you."

She hung up the phone with a soft click and stood in a daze before reality hit in an painful burst, "Sota! Grandpa! Wake up!" She screamed running to her room and pulling on clothes and her shoes.

At the hospital she watched as the doctors pulled open the black bag, "Is this your daughter. Mrs. Higurashi?" A woman asked.

"Kagome...Y-Yes...t-that's my d-daughter." She ground out tears clogging her throat she reached out and touched Kagome's cheek. She ran her fingers over her closed eyelids, over her broken nose and down to her chin, "This...this is m-my baby girl." Pulling her hand back she covered her mouth just as a sob fell out. "Kagome!" She whispered clenching the black bag that encased her daughter.

.*.

Kikyo sat next to Inuyasha both were watching a movie playing on the tv when her mother burst in.

"Kikyo...I have something to tell you." The woman said taking a seat at the table which was situated between the living room and dining room.

Kikyo sensed something within, and knew that it was bad news, "What is it?" She asked standing up. Inuyasha stood as well his arm instictively going around her waist.

"Kagome was here yesterday wasn't she?" Her mother asked looking hard at Kikyo.

"Yes, tell me what happened, mother." Kikyo shifted as the fear grew. "Is it Kagome? Is she alright?" Inuyasha tensed beside her, his heart constricting within his chest.

Her mother looked toward the window her eyes brimming with tears, "She was driving last night when she struck a deer...her car flew over a brigde and ejected her." Turning back to Kikyo and Inuyasha the woman struggled with her voice, "She's dead, Kikyo. She died before the ambulance even got there."

Kikyo felt her legs give out as she sunk back into the seat, she felt her world go black, the last thing she saw was Inuyasha running through the front door.

.*.

Inuyasha growled as he sped down the road, the same road he knew Kagome had taken, because it was the same one they had driven across that whole summer. His heart beat erratically in his chest as he pictured her, her smile, her eyes, he could still hear the pain in her voice just before she left.

Finally he came to a stop when he spotted the crash sight.

Her car was gone but pieces of glass lay in the road, dried blood was splashed across the road and the railing to the bridge was still busted.

Inuyasha walked over toward it, looking over the edge he clenched his eyes shut and looked away. It had to be a 40 ft drop at least. His chest felt as if a great weight was placed on top of it. "God Damn it!" He yelled just before the tears flooded down his cheeks, sobs racked his body as he hit his knees. "Kagome!"

He didn't notice the car pull up, nor did he hear the door open and shut, but he felt the arms wrap around his shoulders and when he looked up all he could see was the black hair and pale skin.

"Kagome!" He yelled wrapping her in his embrace. "Oh god, she's gone!" He sobbed.

Not trusting her voice, Kikyo nodded and dropped down to her knees next to him, tears were streaming from her face. "Y-Yes." She gasped pulling him closer to her.

They sat there for what seemed like hours before finally standing and whipping the tears away. After walking to their cars both looked at each other before turning away.

Kikyo sat for a minute, she watched Inuyasha drabble in his car then turn on the engine. She honked her horn and motioned for him to roll down his window.

"What?" He called rolling up next to her.

"I just wanted you to know that I loved her too." Kikyo said, then she rolled up her window and drove out of sight. Just before she dissapeared though, Inuyasha was sure that he saw Kagome in the passenger seat laughing.

Shocked he turned back and he himself drove away but not before feeling a sense of understanding and peace. Looking back in his review mirror his foot slammed on the brakes when he saw her standing there.

She was as beautiful as always, her black hair flowing with the breeze. She wore a beige dress and waved at him then turned and begun to walk down the road.

He jumped out of the car and stood looking all around, but she was gone. There was no sign of her anymore, as though she were a meer figmant of his imagination.

"Kagome..." He whispered into the wind only to feel the coolest of winds blow past him.

She smiled as she watched him, he couldn't see her but that was okay, she knew he understood. She could feel the forgiveness sink in, Kikyo had forgiven her, her mother would mourn for months but she knew that she would be okay, she knew everyone would be okay. She was going to linger with her mother for a few weeks but just to make sure she was okay then she'd leave for good.

Laughing Kagome twirled with the breeze, her heart light, her feet bare she danced in the open road, she was finally free.

**Suena: Well this is my first story for Inuyasha, Kagome and Kikyo. I do not own any characters.**

**I was inspired to write this by a song called, Somewhere With You by Kenny Chesney. **


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